How I Saved Humanity From Inside The Kid's Museum
by ByrdIsTheWord
Summary: From man-eating nano bugs to time travel, there doesn't seem to be a dull moment today for Miranda. Especially when Eleven tells her that she needs to take off her clothes to save the world. How can she save humanity from inside a children's toy? Enjoy! :
1. Chapter 1

How I Saved Humanity From Inside The Children's Museum

"Turn over the humans now, or they will surrender by force."

"No! By the order of the shadow proclamation, you can _not_ harm this planet. They will not surrender! They will never give in! And, I-I will never let you harm them."

"So be it, Doctor," the Tree Lady turned toward the rhinoceros-human guards, barking at them, "Contrigute dan oomfanz!"

"No!" the tall, slender man yelled as he tugged at his constricting tree handcuffs, which were attached to the Tree Lady. "What are you doing? Stop! And where's my TARDIS?" He yelled as he yanked at the branches that wound up and down his suit-clad arms, wrapping further up his body, until the tree encroached around his maroon bow tie menacingly. He wriggled his head upwards, fighting against the tightening tree cuffs.

The Tree Lady glared down at him with an evil smile upon her face. "How about that, Doctor? A taste of your own _medicine_," she snickered.

The Doctor struggled helplessly upwards, trying to rid himself of his ever-winding chains. "Miranda," he managed to gasp out as the branches constricted around his throat.

"What?" the sixteen year-old girl shot up out of bed, wiping her brown-black bangs out of her face deliberately and quickly, her brown eyes bulging in surprise.

"You heard me," an unseen voice said agitatedly, "take _off_ your clothes. And quickly!" the voice hissed urgently.

"_Who_ are you? _Why_ can I hear you? And why on _earth_ should I take off my clothes?"

"I'm the Doctor. You have great ears. And look down."

"Look down? How d'you mean look dow-OW!" the girl yelled as she jerked her foot out from under her bed cover in surprise. "What in the-OW!" she screamed louder as she yanked her sock off hurriedly, clearly in pain. As soon as she ripped it off, she threw it across the room to let it hit the wall, nervously scooting back against the headboard, grabbing a pillow as her eyes widened in evident fear.

"Look at it," The Doctor's voice said.

"Look at _what_?" Miranda addressed the ceiling, perturbed and annoyed. She was greeted with silence. She scoffed, then swallowed a bit of air before scooting toward the front of her bed slowly to peer over and look at her sock. She gasped a bit as she saw the fabric writhing on the ground of its own accord, seemingly getting smaller as she watched it.

Her eyebrows knotted and she leaned a bit closer to the sock, her shaky hand reaching out slowly to touch it.

"Eeyahhhhrghh!" an awful blood-curdling sound emitted from the fabric.

"Ah!" Miranda gasped as she retracted her hand, bringing in toward her chest. She watched in horror as the sock folded into itself and then seemed to pop out of existence.

"OW! Urrh, ahh!" She called out as she drew her other foot to her, hastily kicking the covers off as she struggled to remove her other sock, then quickly throwing it across the room.

"Oh, what do I do, what do I _do_?" she ran a hand through her hair as a single tear fell from her eye, her breathing speeding up as she began to panic.

"Take _off_ your clothes," The Doctor's annoyed voice repeated again.

"I refuse to remove-" Miranda choked, feeling her body tighten in a corset-like fashion. "Off you go!" she threw off the jacket, ripped off her sweat pants, then looked down at her body. "That's funny. When did I put on a leotard and tights?" she knitted her brows, pulling at the fabric lightly, glad it was not attacking her, but wary nonetheless.

"Arrrgheeuuuyraahh!" her jacket and sweats screamed, causing Miranda to whip her head around to watch her fabric devour itself into nothingness.

"Don't worry about your clothing arrangements," The Doctor continued, "just know that they will not harm you like the others."

"Well, why should I trust the voices in my head?" her panicked voice rose as she crossed the room, ebbing away from her sheet-covered bed and any other fabric-covered objects. "And what am I supposed to do, dance the evil clothes out of existence?" she raised her arms in exasperation, twisting her leg and falling to the ground, as if to prove to the apparently medicinal voice in her head that she was superhumanly uncoordinated.

"Ayeee," she cradled her foot near her body, her face twisting in a sickening mixture of shock and pain.

"I am not a voice in your head. I am a Galli-a _human_ _being _who knows who to save your life and the entire world who has (for seemingly bad reasons) chosen to borrow a mere spot in your head. Any problems?"

"No, I just love when I fall on the ground and am surrounded by suicidal fabric," she bit back.

"Good, now get out of here."

"And go _where_?"

"To the beach."

"To the _beach_? I've just been forced to strip down to a leotard that I've no idea how I put on after being attacked by my _clothing_, and you're_ telling me_ to go to the _beach_?"

The Doctor didn't respond. Miranda sighed before standing up slowly, testing out her leg.

"RAEYURRRRGHAHHH!"

Her head shot up just in time to see the towels in her bathroom converge in on themselves. She took a glance around the room, seeing nearly every fabric-covered item begin to spasm. She grabbed her bedroom door handle and swung it open, ran through the kitchen and out the front door faster than she thought possible with such little coordination.

"Okay, now why am I running to-to the beach?" Miranda managed to puff out as she continued to up her speed, feeling silly for listening to a voice in her head and willingly exerting energy.

"Do you want to live?"


	2. Chapter 2

Miranda huffed, biting back any of her complaints and questions, figuring this voice had saved her so far, and she didn't have any other options at this point. She rounded the last corner before hiking up the levee to get to the pollution-ridden remnants of Pontchartrain beach, which was basically a five-inch strip of muddy sand next to the lake.

"What now?" she put her hands on her hips, recovering her breath.

"Do you know about the nano-bugs?"

"The nano-bugs?"

"They are bugs that oil companies use to devour the excess oil in oil spills. But they're malfunctioning. The circuits are shorting and they are beginning to eat all carbon-based forms of life."

"Like, like humans?" Miranda gulped.

"Right."

"Well, where are they?" she began backing back toward the levee, growing more anxious and nervous with every passing second.

"Can't you hear? They're _nano_ bugs. You can't see them."

"Why am I here? Isn't this a death trap?"

"I need you to lead them to me, so that I can change their food source to the cotton."

"Cotton?"

"Yes, yes, yes, cotton! That's why your nylon leotard and stockings haven't been affected! Jabe can only control the cotton for now."

"So, basically, I am a lure for invisible bugs invented by oil companies for oil spills that will now be eating cotton so as to save the world?"

"Nearly invisible. Now, they're nearly done devouring all the plants on the seafloor, and they'll soon be moving on to the terrestrial plants. Then you."

"Oh, great."

"Now, I need you to come to the Children's Museum."

"Is now really the time for fun and games?"

"Look behind you."

Miranda slowly turned around, facing the lake again to see an ever-growing swarm of silver. "What?"

"Basically, run."

And run she did. She heard all the plants being devoured behind her, a massive cracking, crunching sound mixing in with the flitter of the nano bugs' wings. "What happened to them being _nano_ bugs?" she screamed, her eyes wide with fear.

"Well, what happens when you eat food?"

She rolled her eyes, trying to keep up her stamina, regretting all those times she would pass the gym and go straight to the cupcake bakery. But hearing the oncoming storm behind her sped her up more than any diet or workout regime could have.

"Now that I'm nearing the...museum...what do I need to do?" she hollered over the soon-to-be tornado-force winds.

"You need to run inside and find a police box!"

"The tall one in the career exhibit?"

"They must have had my TARDIS longer than I've realised. There must be some sort of inconsistent temporal shift in here," The Doctor shoved his non-handcuffed hand through his dark brown hair, then adjusted his bow tie. "Miranda, Miranda, are you listening? You need to listen closely and quickly!"

"I'm listening!" the human voice resounded in his head.

His hearts beat out of his chest as he tried to bite off the ever-tightening wooden handcuff. "You need to find the police box and then find the key to it. It should be on top of the 'p' in police. And _hurry_!"

Miranda nodded, running as fast as she could the remaining two blocks to the museum. She threw open the door to the museum and ran up the stairs as quickly as her unconditioned body would let her.

"Police box, police box," she muttered to herself, passing the fake grocery with all of its tempting plastic delights and through the optical illusions, squinting her eyes to prevent any further damage to them, hoping her contacts would stay in place. "Police box!" she called out upon spotting it, running through the kid-sized ambulance and jumping over the fire hydrant to reach the police box. "Come on, come on," her voice rose as she patted her hand on the spot over the "p" to try to find the key. She felt the cold metal. "Yes!" Her hand clenched, retracting instantly. "Where's the slot?" She looked near the ledge where she found the key, her eyes drifting down, past a piece of paper with instructions until she found the slot. "There!" She turned the key and pushed the door with all her might, but it wouldn't open. Nervous, she turned around and took a shaky, deep breath, knowing her actions could either save all of humanity or prove she was completely mental. She swallowed her worries and turned back again, her eyes falling on the white plaque. She scanned the words until her eyes fell upon the last line, which read "pull to open." Holding the key between her shaky left hand, she opened the police box to see the final proof that she was absolutely mad. Her jaw dropping in a mixture of shock, awe, and disbelief, she turned around to close the door behind her. When she turned back, she still saw what she saw when she came in. "I need to check myself into the nearest asylum," she laughed, admitting her clear insanity.

"Hello," The Doctor's voice boomed.

"Ooh!" Miranda jumped, placing a hand on her heart. "Don't do that!" She cautiously moved forward, up the ramp and closer toward what appeared to be the main decoration, A large clear column with bizarre beads that lead down to a saucer shape that lead into a clear floor with a metal spider web pattern. "Even a madwoman like me wouldn't choose this for my interior design."

"Ah, but you see, Miranda. I am _definitely_ mad with my little blue box. A madman in a blue box...I think I'll use that someday."

"What do I need to do?" she crossed her arms, trying to look a though she'd quelled the ever-turning feeling in her gut.

"First of all, say hello, why don't you?"

"Hello?" she rolled her eyes, wondering why he was wasting her time when the world was ending. Formalities were not exactly her priority.

"Turn around."

She turned around, peeved at his demand. "Ah!" she screamed, scuttering backwards until she ran into the saucer part of the centerpiece.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hello," the life-size hologram smiled at Miranda.

"You scared me!" she walk toward the hologram away from the centerpiece.

"So I've been hearing a hologram in my head. You're not even real."

"How do you mean I'm not real? Just because something is mainly see-through doesn't make it fake."

"Okay, that's freaky. Holograms don't usually respond," Miranda moved closer to it, examining it closely.

The Doctor smiled as she swiped her hand in front of his face.

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to take everything in. She opened her eyes to see The Doctor's face right in front of hers.

"Boo," he smiled with his eyes shining with a child's innocence.

She quirked an eyebrow, then backed away a bit. "The world is about to end and you're sitting here playing like a child. Some savior you are," she rolled her eyes and folded her arms, looking at him pointedly.

"I'm not a savior, no, no I'm not," he looked down at his feet, his facial expression changing from playful to forlorn in a matter of seconds.

Miranda looked and felt her heart twist. _For a hologram_, she examined the floor carefully, _he's not even real._

_ I'm real, I keep telling you, _The Doctor's voice echoed in her head.

Her head shot up to see him half-smiling. "Now, to work! I need you to send this police box to me."

"But, you're right here."

"No, this is just a picture of me, a hologram."

"Well, you can move, so do it yourself."

"Listen, I'm burning up an entire planet to talk to you and I need you to work quickly!" he screamed.

She recoiled at his sudden outburst. _Okay, so he's a bipolar hologram. _"How do I do it?"

"First you'll need to turn around and face the center of the console."

"The saucer centerpiece? Wait, you mean, this _toy_ can _move_?"

"Pull the silver lever down, then pull the long chain that hangs down..."

After about five minutes of running around, Miranda finally figured it out. The toy made a _vworp _sound as the large bubble-shaped blue objects moved up and down. She backed away from the centerpiece, nervous about the sound it was making.

"What's happening?"

"You're bringing Sexy back," the hologram smiled to himself.

"Is now really the time?" she looked over her shoulder, looking disgusted.

"You are sending my TARDIS back to me. So that I can save Earth, again," he laughed, as if this happened every day for him.

"How is it moving?"

"It's flying," he responded, as if she should have known this.

"But it's just a children's toy," she shook her head in disbelief.

"Vworp!" the console's noise got louder.

Miranda felt the ground shake and instinctively dropped down to the floor, holding on to it from the bottom, hoping she wouldn't pull out some major part of this flying children's toy.

"Come to me, Sexy! Ha-ha," the hologram laughed as if a family member was returning to him.

Miranda felt the floor moving as the _vworp_-ing continued, then looked over her shoulder to see that The Doctor was gone. _Well, great. I'm alone in a flying children's toy._

She felt the floor beneath her slowly stop shaking as the toy seemed to stop moving. She let go of the wire she'd ben clinging to, wiping her sweaty palms on her nylon leggings, breathing again.

She stood up slowly and looked around the room. It hadn't changed during the flight, except for the disappearance of the hologram.

_ Well, I guess I just go out the way I came in, right?_ she thought, as if trying to reach out t the hologram.

She waited a moment, then sighed when no response came. _Of course, he's a hologram. Why would he even be able to respond?_

_ Come get me, _his voice echoed in her head.

She blinked a few times, taking in that he must actually exist. She started toward the door, but was interrupted.

_With a saw, though. Bring a saw._

_ And where am I supposed to find that?_

_ In the garage. Go up the silver ramp to the right, then grab a saw, preferably electric._

_ How big is this thing?_

_ I'll give you a tour later, saving the world might need to be a priority._

_ Try telling that to yourself, why don't you?_ she laughed.

She was greeted with an eerie silence, and she couldn't help but think of how pitiful he looked when she had told him he wasn't a savior.

She uncomfortably swallowed her thoughts and ran up the ramp into the garage. She scanned the shelves and looked over rows of fancy-looking screwdrivers (the man must have a fetish!) and other tools until she finally spotted a saw.

_ Not electric, but it'll do._ She grabbed it and ran toward the door.

Just before she went out, though, she stopped. _Why am I listening to a hologram and bringing a saw outside into a children's museum?_ She shook her head, truly questioning her own sanity.

_Trust me,_ his voice echoed, _I'm The Doctor_. The voice seemed to echo about the toy's walls, and she wondered how big this box could be.

Shaking her head, she decided to follow her gut, and she ran out the door, hoping that if trouble arose, she would at least be able wield the saw as a weapon.


	4. Chapter 4

Miranda opened the door slowly, gripping the cold metal saw tighter as she felt her hands getting sweaty.

There he was. The man from inside her head who she thought was hologram was right in front of her. She pinched herself, but she still saw the man.

But he was just laying down.

She moved a bit closer, holding the saw close to her side.

"Hello?" she whispered.

The man's head shot up and he beamed at her. "Miranda," he whispered back. He looked to his side, beckoning her to follow his eyes.

She walked toward him slowly, not sure what she was supposed to be looking for. Then she saw his arms.

"They're in wood," she whispered dumbly, feeling helpless.

"Get me out!" he whisper-shouted back, sounding anxious.

"Okay, okay, geez," she muttered to herself, hoping this crazy man wouldn't harm her when she freed him. _Not like he sent a pack of man-eating nano-bugs after you or anything. _But, honestly, she felt like her line of options was very slim, so she ignored her doubts and freed him anyway.

"DOCTORRRRR! YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN FROM ME?" a thunderous voice boomed.

"That wasn't you, was it?" Miranda asked meekly, slowly raising the saw up.

"Not quite," The Doctor grimaced as he watched the branches grow back their severed portions and reach out towards them, stretching and cracking from their rapid growth.

Suddenly, wind started to swirl the room about as a big pile of leaves exploded from nowhere and began to fly toward them at a high speed.

"Basically, run!" The Doctor grabbed Miranda's hand and dragged her paralysed body with him into the TARDIS.

"I feel like I just ran away from a pokemon battle when the other trainer used razor leaf..." Miranda blinked several times.

"Well, unfortunately, we won't be safe for-" The Doctor was cut off when the TARDIS began rocking back and forth, being shaken like a child's piggybank.

"Off we go!" The Doctor yelled over the racket and pulled down the levers and pushed the very buttons Miranda had used to fly the TARDIS not that long ago.

Miranda's eyes widened and she sunk to the ground, really hoping she could just go home and get out of danger soon. _Why was I even chose to save the world? Pretty pathetic choice, if you ask me. I'd much rather be sleeping. I don't like people enough to save them anyway. But, I guess I can save the whole world. I'll pencil that in on my agenda. Oh. _

She sighed as she realised that having a conversation with herself wasn't going to get her out of this flying blue box or away from this madman any faster.

"Well, now all we have to do is fly to an extremely large broadcasting station, use my sonic to change the nano bugs' programming and save the world, then kill Jabe so that we can bring her back to life," The Doctor smiled at Miranda as he rested his hands on the saucer control center.

"Yes, that's all!" Miranda smiled up at him with fake enthusiasm, before rolling her eyes and slumping to the ground.

Her face was plastered to ground when she muttered, "Can you just bring me home? I'm tired and it sounds like you've got this."

"Well," The Doctor put his hands in his pockets as he began to walk over to where Miranda lie. "As you said," he bent down to look Miranda in the eyes, "I'm no savior," he smiled and bopped her nose with his index finger.

She half-heartedly smiled in return.

"Now!" he sprung up and skipped over to the TARDIS console. "Let's go re-program some nano bugs," he grinned as he grabbed yet another lever and yanked it down, sending the TARDIS into a speedy frenzy as they blasted and vworped their way through time and space.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This and the next chapter has mucho information in it, so I hope it clears up some of the confusion. Thanks all for your continued reading :D**

"Doctor?" Miranda whispered, hanging on to another rail in the TARDIS, anchoring herself down as best as she could in the rattling machine. "Are you sure you know how to work this thing?"

"Sexy? Well, of course, I ride in her everywhere."

"No, this toy, the box we're in," Miranda flustered at the man's revealing response.

"Exactly," he replied, yanking a chain, then spinning around to shoot her a dazzling smile.

"I don't really know what's going on," she admitted.

The man walked around to the other side of the console, looking at a silver box, not responding.

Miranda sighed, then slowly eased her way up the railing to stand, her knees knocking a bit from the ridiculousness of her situation. She wobbled over to where the man stood.

"Well," he drew out the word as he adjusted his maroon suspenders and bow tie, "here we are," he pointed to the silver box's screen.

Miranda followed his finger to see a sunny park covered with trees near an enormous silver building.

"Why are we here? I don't understand what's happening. It's not everyday you save the world, y'know," she laughed, a bit too nervously.

"Easy for you to say," the man mumbled. "Well!" he clasped his hands together, turning towards her and shooting her another smile. "Off we go, then!" He ran over to the door, stumbling a bit, as if he wasn't sure of his footing. He grabbed onto the handle of the blue door, turning to see Miranda still by the box. "Come on. I haven't got time to waste. Well, not today at least...maybe yesterday, though. Very lovely place yesterday, I'd go back."

"You're talking nonsense," Miranda folded her arms. "I'm not budging until you tell me what's going on."

"Oh, you lot, all ways so worried and inquisitive. In fact, I all ways pick the questioning ones...why do I do that?" he trailed off.

"Tell me what's going on," she walked toward him menacingly. She pushed him a bit to the side and stood in front of the door.

"Walk and talk, haven't you heard of it?" he raised his voice, getting angrier.

"As far as I'm concerned, you have all the time in the world," she growled.

"Universe, more like it," he held a finger up to point out her mistake.

"Answer. My. Questions. You weren't the one who was abducted and forced into some plot by a magical toy public box or whatever!"

"Sexy is a police box," he pointed out.

"Not my point!" she hollered.

"Police _public_ call box, the 'public' is what threw you off..."

"Listen, all I wanted to do was get up and..." her mouth formed an "o" then a frown. "What was I going to do today?" her voice shook.

"Judging by your outfit, you were going to dance. Dancing is nice, I quite like dancing. Haven't got the time for it, though. Now, we've got to GET A MOVE ON."

"What was I going to do today?" she repeated dumbly.

"Obviously you need to get your priorities in order, so maybe you can work on that _tomorrow_," he gestured for her to move.

"June 11, 1995, Sunday, rainy, but it cleared up around ten o'clock."

"How terribly irrelevant."

"My friend's birthday, she told me about it. I read the weather records in the library once. Doctor, I remember everything. Why can't I remember my plans for today? You did something with my mind, didn't you?" her voice rose.

"Besides a visit, no. Why can't you remember, Miranda? You're very, very clever-"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry for being cross with you-"

"Yes."

"Now I'm not."

She narrowed an eye at him. "Why can't I remember?"

"Don't know, we'll figure it out, though. NOW, on to the important things. I had this friend once, Jabe. She is like a human, but more of a tree. A tree lady, I guess you could say, from the Forest of Cheem, I believe. She died for me, very brave woman. Now she wants to kill me."

"She's not the only one."

"Yes, yes, but like I said, focus on the important stuff."

"Such as?"

"Well, it's not really Jabe who wants to kill me. It's kind of a clone of her. A cutting was taken from her and it fell into the wrong hands. Now the cutting is being...oh, that's clever. Stupid, stupid doctor!" he hopped around, hitting himself on the forehead, then rested an arm on the TARDIS doors, leaning on them.

"Yes...?"

"Mind control. That's why you can't remember anything."

"Oh, goody," she smiled, rolling her eyes.

"But I didn't say anything about you, they don't know who you are."

"I did set you free..."

"Yes, but Jabe's...Jabe Two wasn't in there. Only the leaves...oh. They used the leaves by growing them into bigger plants whose histories they could search. Then they found you, and now they're controlling your mind."

"Can they hear you?"

"No, they're just trying to find out information from you. Here," he put his fingers on her forehead, then closed his eyes.

"What-"

"Shhh," he whispered. "I'm going to scan your mind. I will see the memories from today, and I need you to imagine a door and close it."

"Do it yourself."

"You're out of your mind."

She punched him.

"Yes, sorry, that was bad, bad."

Miranda sighed, closing her eyes, letting her in her mind, seeing as she felt that the mind is not something she wanted messed up, and a doctor could probably fix it.


	6. Chapter 6

"Ow, ow, what are you doing to me?" Miranda shut her eyes tighter, reaching a hand up to move his hands. "My memories are going so fast, what's going on?"

"They're just coming back. Now, imagine a door when you see the ones from today, and close it."

After a moment, The Doctor went on, "good, good, keep closing them."

"How are you doing this?"

"Shh, it's very important that I do this, no time to explain."

Miranda gulped and continued to imagine doors and shut them mentally.

"There we go," The Doctor removed his hands from her temples and Miranda breathed out deeply.

"So, I was really just going to theatre practice. Shoot, they're going to kill me now that I haven't gone, hope I still keep my role," she bit her nails.

"Yes, yes, well, let's make sure they're still alive later."

"What?" she shot back.

"Nothing, let's go."

"You still need to explain everything to me!" she ran in front of the doors.

"And I still need to SAVE THE WORLD," he hollered back.

Miranda looked down, feeling conflicted. Could she really trust someone who could read her mind and see her memories? It's best to be on his...its good side, I guess.

"Now, really, do you humans have to be so judgmental?" he ushered her out of the way and opened the door. "I'm still male, I'm just a," he held the door open and looked into the sun, his facing wearing the same traumatic expression from earlier.

"A what?" Miranda stressed quietly, worried but sympathetic.

He swallowed the air, then shook his brown hair off his face, promptly shooting her another smile. "Not important. Now, it is very important that you know what's going on," he opened the door fully, letting her out.

"Then tell me."

"Well," he put the TARDIS key in his pocket, "Jabe Two is being controlled by something, most likely, and her species is using their roots to control the cotton on this planet. They are trying to kill off everyone by eliminating the cotton through gradual temporal convergence-"

"By what?"

"By making it squeeze in on itself until it disappears out of existence-pop! And the humans go with it. They can't mess with your leotard because it's nylon, that's man-made. They must need this planet. But what for? It's filled with pollution, their trees wouldn't do well here anyway. There's plenty of other places they could go, so why on Earth?" he stopped, turning to face Miranda.

"Why on Earth...?" Miranda continued.

"Exactly," he massaged his temples.

"You act like there are millions of other planets that could sustain life," she laughed.

"Where do you think they came from?"

"A lab...?" she guessed.

He gave her a pointed look. "Well, first, let's save Earth, we can do logistics later."

They continued walking toward the shining silver building.

"Now, wait a minute, how are they not affecting your clothes?" Miranda grabbed his shirt, pulling him closer. These are cotton."

"Yes, but, I soniced them."

"You what?"

"I fixed them."

"Then, why couldn't you get out of their handcuffs?"

"It doesn't do wood!" he threw his arms up and ran a hand through his hair.

"Um...okay."

"Well, here we are. The big shiny silver building," he smiled as he craned his neck to look at the antenna on top.

"This is the main radio station in Louisiana. I don't think now's really a good time to listen to music, Doctor."

"You're absolutely right," he smiled, grabbing her hand and pulling her along as he ran along the side of the building and up the metal stairs, trotting up and up until they reached the top.

"How-are you not-worn-out?" Miranda huffed out.

"Two is better than one," he turned around to smile at her.

"What?"

"Two hearts. Come in handy often."

"How d'you mean?"

He rolled his eyes, then pulled out a stethoscope, handing it to her.

She gingerly accepted it, laying it on his chest where a human heart would be. She heard it thumping and raised an eyebrow.

"Here," he mouthed, pointing to another spot on his chest.

She slowly moved the stethoscope over to the spot he pointed to. When she heard more thumping, she dropped the stethoscope in surprise, letting it hang from her ears. After a moment, she removed it and returned it to him, eyeing him in shock.

"Why do you carry a stethoscope?"

"I'm a doctor, they come in handy," he shoved the stethoscope into his pants pocket.

"Okay. Well, what do we do now?"

"Now, we," he jumped off the stairwell onto the roof, "need to reprogram the nano bugs so that they will eat the cotton."

"And how do we do that?"

"Well, I need you to pull on this lever," he gestured to a lever to his left.

"All right," Miranda jumped onto the roof and ran over to the lever, pulling it toward her with all her strength.

"Now, I need to," he fished out his sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket, "scan the stations until I find one broadcasting large enough that it could reach the nano bugs.

"But it won't reach the whole world, Doctor!"

"Yes, but the nano bugs are smart. if you reach even one of them, they will all adjust their settings to be the same as that one. How else d'you think big oil companies control so many in such a short amount of time?" He set his sonic whirring along the side of a small box. It popped open and the sonic whirred once again.

"Those bugs aren't well protected against tampering, are they?"

"Nope, and that's why I," he gritted his teeth, his sonic buzzing at a high speed, "like them!" the box made a popping sound and the antenna began to shake as it changed its programming.

"Oomph!" Miranda called as she fell, the lever slowly releasing to its normal position. She stood up and brushed herself off. "So, is the world safe now?" she rested her hands on her hips.

"No, it's never really safe. But it's okay for right now. Jabe Two, though, she's the one we have to worry about. Who or whatever is controlling her will only take a matter of time before they attack this planet some other way, and I," he put his sonic back in his pocket, turning around to look at Miranda, his face holding the untold tales of countless years and the aggression of someone who had been tried one time too many, "have to fix that."


End file.
